Inevitable Sacrifice
by okh-eshivar
Summary: Poison Ivy approaches Mystique with an ultimatum as she prepares to unleash the virus that will end Humanity. Contains femslash, major character death(s), and violence. R & R!


_**A/N: Holy nuts, I haven't posted anything on here in so long! I write so much, but I'm horrible at finishing them. Well, this is a DC/ Marvel crossover as well as an X Men/ Batman crossover, with a focus on Poison Ivy/ Mystique. **_

_**Kind of angsty; it'll get both darker and sexier over the next few chapters. I love feedback, by the way!**_

_**Enjoy!**_

"It was an inevitable sacrifice."

"But you don't really believe that." Raven looked into her coffee with bitterness.

"No." Her fingers coiled around the handle of the cup, not to bring it to her lips, but to squeeze it tightly in an effort to contain herself. "She was murdered senselessly by a brat who didn't want to hear what she had to say."

"In your eyes."

She couldn't say otherwise, though she certainly wished she could justify a rebuttal. But denying that Irene knew what was best for the future was a costly, haughty statement that denied logic and sense.

"Yes."

The May Queen sipped at the purified spring water in front of her, lips delicately contouring the rim of the wine glass. Her rose colored hair draped over her shoulders and back with the elegance of an undiscovered waterfall, leaves hanging from specific strands.

"Mmm. They don't have water like this in Gotham." Her skin tone brightened slightly as the liquid slid into her throat, mane becoming the slightest bit thicker.

"They don't have water like that anywhere. It took electricity and mineral separation to achieve that purity."

The green-skinned beauty chuckled through perfect white teeth. "Ah, a woman after my own heart."

"...You're hardly human anymore," Raven averted the conversation tactfully, observing the changes that had occurred in the other woman since her last visit. The vines wrapped around her forearms twitched noticably as a sad grin spread over her lips.

"My transformation is nearly complete," she sighed, as if to mock the mere idea of having ever been totally human. "It was two years ago since I've last eaten. I need only to sit in the sun and bathe now." She went into quiet contemplation for a moment. "I haven't seen Harleen in six months. I wouldn't be surprised if she was dead by now. Both man and woman have abandoned me. I no longer have a reason to delay the inevitable; this planet was born through my kind, and it will be reclaimed soon enough."

"Is this what you've come to tell me?"

"Yes." Her expression grew serious and distainful. "I have given mankind too many chances to prove itself. I hold the key to the world in my being now." She pressed a green hand between her breasts. "Now that it has matured, it is ready to release. Had humans had proven themselves, it would have never came into existence. I understand now why Jason Woodrue birthed me. He knew all along the trauma induced by the experiments would damage me enough to revert into misanthropy. And I suppose..." She clutched her left eye with a look of beaten madness. "...He always hated this world anyway..."

Raven breathed deeply and leaned her head against her propped palm, pushing her bright red locks up as she went. The coffee was too bitter for her to taste; years of gustatory use had dulled her vunerabilty to such strong, obvious sensations.

Ivy paused, perhaps hesitating, before reaching into the small brown satchel she had brought with her and pulling from it a thimble-sized vial and a pipet. She pushed them to the center of the small table at which they sat.

"This is a vaccine. You are the last of them who have not forced my hand." She sipped the water again, disposition becoming very calm, joyful perhaps. "The beginning will be in precisely one week. One week, at 6:30 am, as they rise or as they sleep. It only takes three days from the infection date to kill. Every human on this planet will have felt its first sting in a month, perhaps less if the pattern of activity remains consistent throughout the pandemic."

"What are the symptoms?"

"The first day of exposure mimics the affects of a severe case of influenza. On the second day, a thick film forms over the eyes, causing blindness, and cists begin forming in the lungs and trachea, which burst when antagonized. Even a harsh cough is enough. The third day is the peak; the cists continue to burst, filling the airways with the infected liquid. If the fluid is swallowed, which is an inevitability, the cists will spread throughout the digestive tract. The stomach, intestines, and kidneys will be compromised. After that, it's a matter of time; either the infection itself will destroy them from the inside, or they will drown in their own fluids."

Raven thought for a moment about her connections. "There are an abundance of mutants who are immune to sickness." Ivy smiled in a way that would be mischievous if she didn't look so distressed.

"This is no sickness. This is The Awakening." She leaned forward, her breasts pressed against the wood of the tabletop, and ran long fingers over the left side of Raven's jaw. "There are twenty drops of the antibody in that vial. One in each eye. Choose the other ten survivors wisely."

Ten. Her children, first and foremost. But the other eight? Very few people held enough importance for her to save them. After her own madness had made itself painfully apparent at word of Irene's murder, most worked either to avoid or manipulate her. Those who sought control more often than not discovered it similar to putting a leash on a cloud of toxic gas. It will escape, and it will kill you. The mutation is her blood made her more powerful than some, but her insanity had opened a door to genius, and cunning.

Just as Pamela's had. Ivy _**was**_ Pamela's madness.

"Is it survivable in any sense of the word?"

"No. There is no room in Eden for hospitals and illness. The paradise that will spring from the footsteps of this Armageddon shall mimic the greatness of the beginning." She pushed herself closer, lifting her legs onto the furniture and kneeling hands and knees in an undeniably sensual position. "The vaccine works best when supplemented. You will take it, won't you?" Her voice was like rich cream, or fine silk. Raven could easily detect the pheromones rising from her body.

"...Yes." She would think about it.

"Good. That would make me very happy."

_Happy yes please be happy I only want to make you happy _Raven caught herself creating the same frantic thoughts that Ivy's less aware prey so often did. She knew Ivy had lied when she said she hadn't eaten in two years; she knew for a fact that for at least four years, she had adopted the taboo of cannibalism, though her being a vegetarian was hardly different. The mutant remembered that phone call like it happened last night. _I'm having strange cravings. Yes, I have him here. He's already dead. His blood is like honey to me. I want more._ And she was not a creature of self-control. She did not acknowledge the common boundaries of mankind.

Her lips were inches from Raven's. She could smell roses. Her hand was still on her face. "I need to be absolutely sure you will take this."

"I will." She knew a kiss from the May Queen would be more than enough to convince her; the chemicals would easily take her over, just as they did with men. There was twisted concern in her crystalline emerald eyes.

She leaned forward farther, hesitating, thick hair falling to frame her perfect face. Raven met the gesture in the middle, taking her in, breathing the same breath, tasting her. A hand moved to the back of her head, pulling her in closer, deeper. The blue woman felt a tongue against her bottom lip, beckoning, suffocating. It slid between her teeth, it pleasuring echo rattling against her spine.

It was over too soon, and as they seperated, Raven could feel her shaking.

"Are you afraid?" The question was not meant to be comforting.

"I fear for the integrity of my decision. Though, I suppose it isn't my decision after all. I fear for the rebirth of this precious world. And...I fear for myself, for I cannot say what will happen to me when the bacterium is released." She paused, studying the confusingly calm disposition held by the other woman. "You aren't going to convince me otherwise?"

"Could I?" Raven asked, knowing the answer even before Ivy did.

"Smart woman," she smirked.

"You've obviously thought about this. And I'm not one to doubt the strength of a goddess. What the hell are the chances I'd win?"

"I am no goddess." She climbed down from the table, arms wrapped around her chest. "Just a freak."

Mystique watched her closely, the way she toed around the room, the curved contour of her back, the permanent ridge between her eyebrows. She was afraid.

"It will begin in Gotham."

"You aren't worried about Bats?"

She almost chuckled. "Oh, he will come. And he will be the first. Even if he kills me, the infection will be released."

"You don't fear death?"

Another pause, long and pensive. And another slow sigh. "...I am ready to die. Though I doubt I could ever enter a true death. My consciousness may live on, in Eden."

"And if you do?"

"Then I do." A poisonous glare shot through her suddenly, the May Queen's lips turning vindictive. "Then I shut up and go quiet forever. Dead meat. Just like you and your precious Irene."

Harsh. Anger swelled in Raven's stomach as she reminded herself that Ivy was incredibly unstable, bipolar, and much more powerful than herself.

"Alright, alright," Raven tried her best to keep her irritation from her tone.

Ivy took the vaccine from the tabletop and studied it absently, turning the vial around in her long fingers, and a twinge of panic pricked the mutant's insides.

After uncounted moments, the red haired goddess held it out to her.

"Take it. Now." A command. Raven didn't like being commanded.

"I'll take it when I'm ready to take it."

"No," Ivy snarled. "Take it now. Take it now or you might not."

"I'll take it," Raven insisted. "I promised, didn't I?"

"But they all do. They all promise. But promises aren't reality. Reality is reality. I want to see you take it." Her voice was crackling with electric instability. Raven shot a glance to the window over the sink; already the landscape was changing. Heavy roots ripped through the hard rock like it was paper, threatening to crush anything in their path.

But she was stubborn. "Pamela, calm down. You're overreact-"

"Don't **CALL** me_** that!**_" Raven was suddenly smashed into the wall behind her, arms impossibly strong for a woman of Ivy's build anchoring her feet from the ground. "Pamela is **DEAD**! I am **NOT **Pamela! _**He **_killed her! He **tortured** her and **murdered** her and I _**grew**_ from her open wounds! From her tears and her screams and her bleeding flesh! Pamela was **weak**!" She was yelling now, and the grip on Raven's black shirt tightened. Suddenly the room smelled of mint and cloves, and Raven made the observation that her scent changed with her violent mood swings. Her acidic touch was eating holes in the fabric of her clothing. She was no doubt lethally poisonous now.

"Ivy...I meant Ivy..." Raven struggled. Perhaps the May Queen was ready to die, but she sure as hell wasn't. "Sorry..."

The rage in her vibrant green eyes dulled instantaneously. She withdrew, watching as Raven barely caught her balance on the linoleum floor.

"Raven...I'm..." She clutched her head and shook, moaning sharply. "You shouldn't antagonize me. I could have killed you," she whimpered, as if suddenly helpless. "Hnn...your blood would run green with the poison of this dying world..." Mumbling.

She was mumbling. Like a crazy person. Raven folded a nervous hand over her own neck, feeling subconsciously for her pulse. Too fast. _Calm down._

Ivy fell to her knees then, legs giving out beneath her. Green tears stained the floor, burning through the glassy finish. Now she was sobbing into her hands, back trembling with sudden paralyzing sorrow. Her mood swings have gotten worse. Raven hadn't thought that was possible.

"I can't we can't we CAN'T FEEL it ANYMORE. We can't FEEL PEOPLE. Only the GREEN. We cannot be TOUCHED. We cannot..." Her arms clutched around her chest, hugging herself tightly. "We are...alone..."

"You are not alone," Raven said gently, bending down next to the fallen woman and taking her into a soft embrace. Ivy tensed, then relaxed slightly into the touch. Then, she welcomed it, relished it, pulled in closer. Her tears stung horribly, eating shallow holes in the skin around her chest and collarbone, but Raven ignored it the best she could.

"Yesss...We had nearly forgotten. Our touch cannot harm you." She pulled her head up to stare into Raven's flat yellow eyes. "But if you die, we...I will be alone..." She presented the vial again. "Please..."

She sighed, and took the liquid from the May Queen delicately. "I will take it. Later." She was very tempted to teach Ivy a lesson or two about temperament, but remembered this wasn't another weak mutant throwing a temper tantrum. This was a goddess that controlled a third of the entire planet throwing a temper tantrum. She chose to run comforting fingers through the mane of red hair instead.

"Why not now?"

"Because I'm stubborn and unkind." Her words pricked at the corners of Ivy's lips, and a small smile bloomed there.

"You smell good." Ivy buried her nose in her chest, and Raven fought the loud voices in her head. "Like peaches and raw meat."

Oh...kay. Raven sighed in a strained manner. The days were getting longer behind her back again. Raw meat. It was a smell that was hard to get off; you bathe in the blood of others, and the scent stalks you for the rest of your life.

"I'm sleepy."

"Then you should rest."

"Can I stay here, with you?" That was tricky. There were others that lived here now, the teenagers she had housed and fed with little regard returned. But upstairs was hers, a large bedroom behind heavy steel doors.

"Alright. But it's preferred that no one sees you."

"Okay." So innocent suddenly. Sweet and calm and innocent, where only a moment ago she was violent, bitter and fiery. Raven made an exasperated expression before making a move to stand. Ivy grabbed at her shirt again, this time with weak mercy. "I'm afraid to sleep. I don't think I'll be able to wake up if I go to sleep."

"And why is that?"

"I...I don't know..."

"Come on. You're just exhausted." Raven took the May Queen by hand, cheeks stained dark green from the inhuman tears, and led her to the wide stairway at the mouth of the old house.

The door creaked open then, and the shapeshifter caught the distinct adolescent voices of Wanda and Lance entering just behind them. Ivy jumped slightly and stopped dead in her tracks, staring at the ajar entrance blankly.

"...telling you, that chick has it in for you, Wanda. Did you see that nasty glare she was giving you? Sheesh. She either wants to fuck you or rip your goddamn throat open."

"I have no idea why. Guess I just don't dress the way she wants me..." The goth was the first to make eye contact with the May Queen. "Um...hi?" The woman merely peered unemotionally through her.

Ah, shit. Raven clapped a frustrated hand over Ivy's right shoulder, forcing her along up the stairs.

"Keep moving, hon. It's at the top of the stairs to the left. It should be unlocked." The mutant could smell the shock of the other two at the doorway as the word 'hon' left her lips. Ivy continued alone up a few steps, then turned back for a moment.

"Wake me soon, won't you, Raven? I'm not ready to die quite yet." More shock at the use of her true name. _Raven._

"I will."

"Promise?"

"Yes," she sighed. "I promise. Now go."

A friendly smile spread over her green, pillowy lips as she turned the corner and disappeared upstairs. The shapeshifter turned around to address the two mutant adolescents.

"You are both to forget what you have seen. Am I understood?"

"Why? Who is she?" Wanda questioned, neatly trimmed brow arching in a curious arch.

"Someone very dangerous."

"A new member of the team?" Lance asked.

"Team..." Raven chuckled grimly at the loose use of the term. "No. Nothing of the sort." Though the thought wasn't all together crazy.

"Then...who?"

"Are you both deaf?" Raven bit sharply. "Forget it. Breathe a word of this to the others, and you'll need a team of surgeons to reassemble your extremities." She left up then with the bitter threat and marched up the stairs in the May Queen footsteps.

"Jeez, no need to bite our heads off."

"Yeah..." Wanda mumbled absently. Something was off. Maybe she should address it with the shifter later, alone.

Raven closed the heavy door behind her with a thud, locking it tightly as she went. Ivy was already sprawled out on the plush mattress, hair drooping over her relaxed form like a blanket.

"Nnn...That boy was cute," she giggled oddly. "He would look so good ground up into plant fodder for my babies. I miss them so. My babies." She curled lithe fingers into the silk sheet beneath her and bit her lower lip with measured sadness. Long eyelashes folded closed over brilliant emerald orbs. The other woman walked to the other end of the room and moved to close the large window.

"No!" Ivy called out. "No, please don't close it. I can't stand the darkness. It reminds me of the asylum. I wanted a window. Just a small one. A little window with a little sun. Warm sun. But they wouldn't. They locked me on the basement level to wither away. To fade into a weak, powerless, ugly thing. Please don't close it." She was becoming a bit hysterical again.

"Alright, alright. Just keep your distance from view. I don't want to risk anyone else catching sight of you."

"Okay." Raven turned away from the window and back to the bed.

Annnnd she was naked. Wonderful. The foliage which had clung to her so delicately before had fallen away, leaves scattered on the floor. The thin, earth brown trench coat was still clinging to her arms and shoulders, but wide open, her back pressed into the surface of bed and arms cast to her sides.

"Mm, it's warm in here," she moaned semi-sensually, running a clawed fingernail from her collarbone, between her supple breasts, to halt just above her naval. "Forgive me. It's difficult to relax when I have to focus on keeping myself clothed."

"I know the feeling," Raven retorted, attempting to keep her eyes to herself. Just a glance and she could invade her mind again.

Ivy rolled onto her stomach then, lifting herself up on all fours. "Join me." She leaned back on her heels and held her arms out, beckoning the shifter to her. Her rose colored hair was working well to accentuate her already shapely form. "Join me, and together we shall make _**drama**_." It felt like she was quoting something, but in the haze of pheromones and growing desire, Mystique was finding it hard to pinpoint.

She was the epitome of perfection. The very thing the Greeks drew their insatiable obsession from, that grand Troy fell for. Wars had been fought for beauty less than hers.

"Please...at least dream with me, for a little while longer..."

"Sleep, Ivy. You need it."

"So do you." She did.

"I have things to take care of."

She laughed, so airy and soft. "The world ends in a week, my love. What matters could possibly have to care for?"

She had a point. Raven hesitated, thinking her options over. Insomnia had numbed parts of her mind; finally she settled on sleep.

She let Ivy takes both her hands, following her come-hither motion. The earth Goddess chuckled warmly and brought herself to her knees to look Raven deeply in the eyes. She was a breath away now, bottom lip clutched between pristine teeth. The low growl of passion erupted from deep within the shifter's abdomen.

She could take her right now, with little argument.

No. How ridiculous. She fell in her embrace, and tumbled into the familiar bed limply. Exhaustion. She felt so weak.

Slender fingers ran long currents of sensation across her scalp. "Rest now, Love. It will all be over soon."

The shifter fell into a restful slumber even as an overwhelming sense of dread buckled over her like an advancing enemy.


End file.
